$100 fine for riding a bike on Flatbush Ave.: Dismissed

I don't understand the POINT of this article. He/She got it dismissed because the Criminal Court didnt have the authority to make them pay the fine?? So what?


I mean.....it was dismissed, but that doesnt mean the fine was dismissed, it just has to be recovered by the ECB. So...what?

Sure, but why is that news? People don't post every time they get a praking ticket deferred.

I guess......I just figure if you broke the law, you broke the f***ing law. Might as well pay what you owe.

Tony Balls wrote: I guess......I just figure if you broke the law, you broke the f***ing law. Might as well pay what you owe.

um, well, first of all, don't the police have better things to deal with (ie. worse laws broken) than people riding their bikes on the sidewalks of Flatbush? second of all, while the law was technically broken by the person riding on the sidewalk, the police, too, didn't follow the law. And they paid the price, which is having the case dismissed. That's why the system is in place, after all, to make sure that the laws are respected on all sides, and part of that is making sure that the police follow the correct procedure, even if it means that some transgressions go unpunished.

Riding your bike on the sidewalk is also a violation of the Traffic Law. When you take the training wheels off, you have to take you chances in the street. I don't know what the circumstances were that caused the police to issue the ticket, but they are extremely lax about enforcing these rules. I can understand someone preferring to endanger pedestrians rather than being endangered by motorists, but having been hit by a cyclist, I'd rather they enforce the law.

New York City Traffic Rules and Regulations

¤ 4-07 (c) - Restrictions on crossing sidewalks
3. Driving bikes on sidewalks is prohibited unless sign allows or wheels are less than 26 inches in diameter and rider under 14 years of age.

New York City Administrative Code

¤ 10-157 - Bicycles used for commercial purposes
Business must be identified on bike by name and number; Operators must wear upper body apparel with business' name and operators' number; Operators must carry and produce on demand numbered ID cards with operators' photo, name, home address and business' name, address and phone number; Businesses must maintain log book of all operators and trips; Owner of business must file annual report with Police Department.

¤ 19-176 - Bicycles operation on sidewalks prohibited
Riding bicycles on sidewalks is prohibited. Bicycles may be confiscated.

this article is a huge deal b/c after the RNC and the assumed to be critical mass "bike block", the po po has been all over cyclists. the "law" has been doing a lot of illegal things... does anyone else have inside into this?

she shouldnt have ridden her bike on the sidewalk. its illegal. i get annoyed when peds walk in the bike-lane, so yeah.

also: if it was only "one block", why not just walk it?

This subject always bothers me because there are occasions where riding a bike on the sidewalk is the best/safest solution.

Last summer my husband and I were teaching our kids how to ride their bikes sans training wheels. We would often get on the bikes and head to the park or a deserted schoolyard so that they could wheel about unimpeded. Now there is no way that I can ride my bike in the street and keep an eye on a six-year old who's riding on the sidewalk. Early on there is a fair amount of falling over, running into things, and its best to keep the kids no further than an arms length away. We try to take routes down low-traffic streets and to keep to a reasonably slow pace on residential blocks so as not to injure either the kids or anyone who may be loose on the street, but I was amazed at the number of times we were accosted by pedestrians about riding on the sidewalk. I was also surprised at the number of times we were trying to cross at intersections and drivers would not yield to children on bikes but would try and turn in front of them.

Nope, we're on the sidewalk until the kids get big enough to deal with traffic.

steveo wrote: [quote=jimbo79]New York City Administrative Code

¤ 19-176 - Bicycles operation on sidewalks prohibited
Riding bicycles on sidewalks is prohibited. Bicycles may be confiscated.

This is completely outrageous, right? I mean, I see a heck of a lot more cars on the sidewalks than bike riders, and cars are a heck of a lot more dangerous to humans and other living things. Can cops confiscate cars they find on the sidewalk? I somehow guess they can't. Grr.

This reminds me of something I saw this week in the Times:

The police are not known to be tough on truck drivers. Inspector McCarthy testified yesterday that the police issued more than 13,000 summonses for truck infractions last year. By comparison, officers issued more than 40,000 citations to bicyclists, according to Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for pedestrians and cyclists.

(from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/nyregion/15trucks.html )

I mean, really, can we please get our priorities straight here?

The worst is the fact that so many bicyclists get run over by truck drivers making unexpected turns--I've read about three or four stories in the news about this (in the Lower East Side, mostly, but Park Slope, too--somehow you'd think it was safe on this nice placid streets, but no). The worst of it is that the truckers don't ever get cited. In each case, the police deemed the death "accidental" and therefore didn't even pursue an investigation of the matter.

It is dangerous as hell riding a bike in this town (I got walloped myself) and I can understand why someone on Flatbush may well decide to coast downhill one block to their destination on the sidewalk instead of on that wack-ass insane road.

My vote is this: until the City does something to stand by and protect the thousands of bicyclists in it, they shouldn't be harassing them with stupid tickets when there are bigger and more dangerous fish to be catching. Like those drivers around here that run red lights at 50 miles an hour, blasting their horn on their way through. Bullshit.

Stay the f--- off the sidewalk. Pedestrians have enough trouble (especially those who are older and disabled) without having to dodge louts who can't be bothered to ride like grownups. Ride in the street, or walk it on the sidewalk.

I'm a bicyclist myself, but I'm enough of an adult to understand that if I do stupid things and break the law, I should deal with the consequences. I also understand that pedestrians have a right to place of their own and should not have to deal with people running them down on the sidewalk. And I have zero patience with bicyclists who insist they should be treated like cars, afforded their own lanes, etc, but don't want any of the responsibilities. How many cars do you see driving on the sidewalk?

So my answer to this is, just shut up. And be glad nobody's pushing you right off your damn bike, because that's what you deserve.

Here is the whole truth.

I have been riding my bicycle in NYC for nearly 10 years and as a general rule, I do not ride on the sidewalk. Most sidewalks are narrow and there is hardly room for the pedestrians and strollers that take up the sidewalk, much less bicyclists.

However, on December 7, 2005 at 9 p.m., I rode my bicycle on the sidewalk for one block on Flatbush Avenue between 8th Avenue and Sterling, alongside the Christian Science Reading Room and the Brooklyn Kidney Center. The sidewalk is approximately 15 feet wide and there were exactly zero pedestrians on the sidewalk at the time. In fact, the only person who I saw on the sidewalk was the police office (on foot) who walked in front of my bicycle, while his "partner" was in the lobby of the Brooklyn Kidney Center apparently to stay warm since it was actually a fairly freezing night. The first thing that the officer asked me was whether I had a Police Benevolence Association (PBA) card. I said no, but asked if he would let me go if I did. He said that the people on "the force" extend "courtesies" to friends and family and that he would have let me go. I asked whether if I had a friend or relative who was a police officer I would have been less of a hazard on the sidewalk, he said no, but that "life wasn't fair." He proceeded to summons me to the wrong court.

I agree with everyone who says that bicyclists can be a danger to other bicyclists, pedestrians, and even drivers. But I was not a danger to anyone on the cold night of December 7, 2005. Rather, I was trying to get to where I was going quickly, and without confronting with the dangers of the roadway on Flatbush Avenue. Instead, I met up with two police officers who had to meet their quota of three tickets (another fact they shared) for the night.

If the purpose of the police patrolling the streets at night is to protect the public, stopping me was not meeting their goal. But even assuming that it was, the police officers should learn to follow the laws that the city enacts instead of wrongfully sending people to be judged in criminal court when they are only being charged with a civil penalty.